Iran: Political prisoner’s wife pushing for husband’s medical release

-

The wife of Mohammad Sedigh Kabudvand, journalist, human rights activist and founder of the “Kurdistan Organization in Defense of Human Rights” said in an interview: “A few months ago the Evin Prison warden had agreed to the conditional release of Mr. Kabudvand, yet to this date this request has not been complied with in practice.” Parinaz Baghbani Hassani added during the eight years behind bars her husband has only once been released on leave, and considering his physical conditions he needs to be placed under the supervision of a medical specialist. He remains ill and his problems have not been relieved, she continues, and if there is any pain he has to go to the same prison clinic and consume the same medication given by the prison physician. However, no serious medical care has been taken to improve his conditions and under the care of a medical specialist. He also needs a medical leave for his illness, she added. “Kabudvand is suffering from intestinal and kidney illnesses as a result of his long hunger strike. In that period we placed numerous requests to have him sent to a hospital for treatment. However, this was not agreed to and they did not send him out of the prison for a diagnosis,” Hassani continued. Kabudvand published a dual-language paper, “Payam-e Mardom”, in Kurdish and Farsi in Tehran and Kurdish provinces from 2003. In the 2009 “Britain Press Awards” he was awarded as the “International Journalist of the Year” and in the winter of 2008 he received the “Helman-Hemmat Award” from the Human Rights Watch.

(Campaign in Defense of Political & Civil Prisoners – January 30, 2016)